MPPs could possibly get a 6 per cent pay increase on Tuesday because the Progressive Conservatives and New Democrats are refusing to give unanimous consent to a Liberal motion to freeze them for five years.

Because provincial lawmakers’ salaries, which have been frozen for the past five years, are tied to federal MPs’ wages, MPPs are entitled to the $7,000 raise unless the legislature blocks the hike.

Finance Minister Charles Sousa has moved a motion for unanimous consent in the house three times to get all parties to agree to the extension, but Tory and NDP MPPs have yelled nay in each instance.

“There is no room in the budget for incremental increases in compensation,” Sousa said Thursday.

“They’ve repeatedly blocked our efforts to secure unanimous consent to pass the bill and secure the freeze,” he said.

MPPs earn $116,550 — 75 per cent of the pay made by MPs, who also have a pension plan unlike their provincial counterparts.

A 6 per cent boost would elevate their base pay to above $123,500, an almost $7,000 annual raise.

The Tories and New Democrats argue the raises won’t go through Tuesday because the motion is on the legislative order paper, but Sousa disputed that procedural wrangling would stop the money from flowing.

“They’re putting doubt in the . . . (legislative) clerk’s mind as to whether this will pass. April 1 is just around the corner. You’re going to have a lot of MPPs getting substantive pay raises because the opposition are playing games.”

Sousa said Liberal MPPs would repay their raises, but he expressed frustration that the Tories and New Democrats again refused unanimous consent Thursday.

Tory Leader Tim Hudak said his party has refused to give the proposal unanimous consent because it gives his members the opportunity to argue for an across-the-board public-sector wage freeze.

He said besides a members’ wage freeze, a Tory government would bring in a law that would further dock the pay of cabinet ministers if the provincial budget is not balanced.

Tory finance critic MPP Vic Fedeli said when the “sunshine list” of public sector employees who make more than $100,000 comes out Friday or Monday it will be further proof of the need for a broader freeze.

“When you see the ‘sunshine list’ you are going to understand exactly why we need an across-the-board (public sector) wage freeze,” he said.

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